What is scarborough fair

You have to listen very closely to the song, or read the lyrics, to get a gist of its meaning, but it is about a man who makes ever-more impossible demands of his lover in order for her to prove her love, and she, in turn, makes similar demands of him.

Although I will not speak to their full intention in weaving a Vietnam message into the song, Vietnam could also be seen as an impossible promise. Indeed, the town of Scarborough, in its remote Yorkshire location, was the site of a large market fair, from the thirteenth century.

This fair, which happened once a year, saw merchants coming together from all over the country and bringing with them a large variety of useful or even luxury goods. There would have been fabrics, animal skins, foods and cooking equipment.

It makes sense that herbs and spices would have also been on display, including parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. But, why these particular herbs? Such a market would have certainly had many other herbs and seasonings, yet the song mentions just these particular ones and gives them a place of importance. The problem is that different sources assign each of these herbs different meanings.

For instance, instead of the above:. It seems hard to justify why these particular herbs should be any more important to the song than any number of other herbs with other meanings, such as violet, for faithfulness, or myrtle for true love. As a matter of fact, there are many herbs associated with love and relationships. It is more likely that if these herbs had special associations, these associations may have changed based on place and time.

Regardless, all the herbs had magical properties, themselves varied. Search the FT Search. World Show more World. US Show more US. Companies Show more Companies. Markets Show more Markets. Opinion Show more Opinion. A young man requests impossible tasks from his lover, saying that if she can perform them, he will take her back.

In return, she requests impossible things of him, saying she will perform her tasks when he performs his. The use of the herbs "parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme" in the lyrics has been debated and discussed. It's possible that they were just put there as a placeholder, as people forgot what the original line was.

In traditional folk music, songs grew and evolved over time, as they were passed down through the oral tradition. That's the reason there are so many versions of so many old folk songs, and possibly why these herbs have become such a prominent part of the verse. However, herbalists will tell you of the symbolism and functions of herbs in healing and health maintenance.

There's also a possibility that these meanings were intended as the song evolved parsley for comfort or to remove bitterness, sage for strength, thyme for courage, rosemary for love. There's some speculation that these four herbs were used in a tonic of some sort to remove curses. Art Garfunkel adapted the arrangement, integrating elements of another song Simon had written called "Canticle," which in turn was adapted from yet another Simon song, "The Side of a Hill.

View all posts. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Sign in. Forgot your password?

Get help. Create an account. Password recovery. Transcontinental Times. Sunday, November 14,